AOC still uncommitted on favorite 2020 Dem, says she'd be 'hard-pressed' to back Biden

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Tuesday that she’d be “hard-pressed” to endorse frontrunner Joe Biden in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

The democratic socialist of New York, who has previously expressed support for Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, told The Guardian that she was still a long way off from making an official endorsement.

“I’m not close to an endorsement announcement any time soon,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said. “I’m still trying to get a handle on my job. It seems like ages but I’m just five months in and we have quite some time. The debates are in the summer and our first primary election for the entire country isn’t until next year.”

Asked if she would consider endorsing Mr. Biden, she answered: “I’d be hard-pressed to see that happen, to be honest, in a primary.”

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has made similar comments about Mr. Biden in recent weeks, saying that while she will ultimately support the Democratic nominee, the former vice president’s candidacy “doesn’t particularly animate me.”

“I understand why people would be excited by that, this idea that we can go back to the good old days with Obama, with Obama’s vice president,” she said during an interview with Yahoo News last month. “There’s an emotional element to that, but I don’t want to go back. I want to go forward.”